Vietman Draft Dataset
Instructor: Jill E. Thomley (thomleyje@appstate.edu)
Updated: Wednesday, February 13, 2019 @ 03:14:55 PM
Description
In December 1969, the U.S. Selective Service System conducted a lottery to a determine draft order for eligible men in the upcoming year. The 366 days of the year (including February 29) were written on small pieces of paper. Each was placed in a plastic capsule, then the capsules were hand-mixed in a shoebox and dumped in a glass jar. Capsules were pulled out one at a time. The first number chosen was 258 (September 14). Anyone born on that day in 1944 through 1950 was assigned lottery number 1. The first 195 birthdates drawn were later called to serve in the order they were drawn. Some people asserted that the numbers were not randomly distributed through the year, in particular when you compared the first half and second half of the year.
Representative Alexander Pirnie (R-NY) drawing the first draft number. Image is public domain.
Variables
- month: month of the year
- day: day of the month
- draftyear: calendar year of call-up/induction
- halfyear: Jan 1 to Jun 30 (first half) or July 1 to Dec 31 (second half)
- draftnumber: draft number (order) for each day in a given calendar year
## Observations: 1,464
## Variables: 5
## $ month <fct> Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Jan, Ja…
## $ day <int> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 1…
## $ draftyear <int> 1970, 1970, 1970, 1970, 1970, 1970, 1970, 1970, 1970…
## $ halfyear <fct> First, First, First, First, First, First, First, Fir…
## $ draftnumber <fct> 305, 159, 251, 215, 101, 224, 306, 199, 194, 325, 32…## month day draftyear halfyear draftnumber
## 1 Jan 1 1970 First 305
## 2 Jan 2 1970 First 159
## 3 Jan 3 1970 First 251
## 4 Jan 4 1970 First 215
## 5 Jan 5 1970 First 101
## 6 Jan 6 1970 First 224